Andrew Todd Anderson caught stealing from Salvation Army bucket

It doesn't get much lower than stealing from charity just before Christmas.

On Tuesday afternoon, Andrew Todd Anderson was working as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army when he decided $8 per hour just wasn't enough. Anderson began pocketing donations and, at one point, actually prying money out of the red bin with a set of tweezers, says Eagan police spokeswoman Officer Danielle Anselment.

Unfortunately for Anderson, this was far from the perfect crime. He was working outside of a Cub Foods at the time, and a Salvation Army worker tweezing dollar bills out of the donation bin is the kind of thing people tend to notice.

"A store employee witnessed him taking the money from the till," says Anselment.

Police cited Anderson with a misdemeanor for theft Tuesday after finding $40 in his possession, says Anselment, adding that bell-ringer theft is not so common in Eagan.

"You know, we have many bell ringers throughout the city during the season, and arresting a bell ringer for theft is a rare occurrence," she says.

This isn't Anderson's first time in trouble with the law. In 2007, he was convicted of a felony in Stearns County for drug possession, according to court records.